Holmes County Fair, Aug. 6-11

MILLERSBURG -- Now in its 89th year, the 2012 Holmes County Fair promises to provide six days of family friendly summer entertainment.

In a marked shift in fair dates, the fair will be held the second week of August for the second year in a row.

Traditionally, the fair has been held the third week of August, but a change in ride providers and overlap with the Muskingum County Fair necessitated the adjustment to Aug. 6-11.

"When we moved the fair back a week last year, we were scared to death of moving the fair week and whether that would impact vendors. We thought we'd really lose some people," said fair board President Kerry Taylor, noting that the Cuyahoga and Richland county fairs are also that week. "But the consensus is that it's better this way. We hear it from the parents that have school kids, from employees of local schools. It's nice for them to have that extra week before school starts."

The change was also beneficial to students trying to juggle fair week and school athletic commitments, said Holmes County Ohio State University Extension Coordinator Kate Shumaker, as well as for fair participants moving in to college dormitories during move-in week.

As the fair moves to its new location in 2015, Taylor expects the fair to continue to be held the second week of August.

"Even when we move to the new fairgrounds, I don't see that changing," said Taylor, noting that a three-year contract was signed with the ride company Bates Bros. Amusement Co. for the scheduled week.

"(The date change) was a frustrating experience, but it worked out for the best," said Taylor. "We should have a good mix of amusement rides this year" as Bates Bros. will provide rides for both children and adults.

While the number of rides will remain the same, there will be two or three new rides geared toward adult fairgoers.

Popular events like the tractor pulls, motocross, rodeo and demolition derby will also return this year.

"We work really hard to put a good mix of grandstand entertainment together," said Taylor.

Additions to this year's grandstand line-up include a Youth Demolition Derby and Figure-8 Race on Tuesday night, as well as additional classes in the Saturday night Demolition Derby.

"Both of those events on Tuesday and Saturday will be expanded from last year," said Taylor.

The CSB Stage on the Green will offer a variety of local and regional entertainment, with St. Jimmies on Tuesday, Magician Bobby Maverick on Wednesday, Autumn Burning on Thursday, SOBOS on Friday and crowd favorite Thunderstruck AC/DC Tribute band on Saturday night.

"(Thunderstruck is) really good, they are one of our largest drawing acts on the Stage on the Green," said Taylor.

Numbering at more than 40, an unprecedented number of corporate sponsors has helped make this list of grandstand and stage entertainment possible, said Taylor, as well as contribute to other aspects of the fair.

The usual vendor turnaround will offer a slightly different line-up of food, wares and displays, said Holmes County Fair Concessions Manager Scott Stallman. One significant addition will be the Ohio Department of Transportation Distracted Driver Simulator, which features an interactive computer-generated simulation of the dangers and consequences of texting while driving, seat belt use, speed and drunk driving.

And as usual, the many 4-H and FFA participants will show their hogs, sheep, goats, poultry, beef, rabbits and other livestock.

"The livestock counts from the 4-H and FFA kids are at or above where they were last year," said Taylor. "We're going to have a good presentation of animals."

This year, the fair board hopes to escape the difficulties presented by heavy rains and flooding last year.

"Up to this point (this year), weather has not been an issue," said Taylor. "Last year was one of the worst ... we had gone two years without any significant flooding, then we had the serious flooding event on the first of March, then we had the rains that came during the fair."

Those unusually heavy pre-fair rains inundated the fairgrounds with about 6 inches of water in the three days leading up to the fair, he said.

Those rainfall levels-- aggravated by the influx of equipment, livestock, vehicles and people that the fair brings -- resulted in a muddy mess, he said, interfering with rides, attendance, livestock and parking.

Despite the current drought, measures have been taken to avoid such difficulties this year, said Taylor.

"The parking lot got rutted pretty bad last year, so we are working before the fair to get some of those ruts filled in so that it will be easier for people to travel through the parking area," he said. "This spring we created some channels for water for the midway, a drainage ditch so that if we do get rain, we can drain that midway better."

Looking toward the future, such flooding issues should not be a problem on the higher ground of the new fairgrounds, located farther west of Millersburg, which will become the home of the Holmes County Fair in 2015.

As the site of the new fairgrounds continues to develop, the fair board invites fairgoers to take a look at the future.

"There will be a booth set up in the commercial tent where you'll have an opportunity to see the progress to date," said Taylor.

Project coordinator Tom Wilke and other fair board members will be on site to talk about the grounds, answer questions and discuss the fundraising campaign.

"The booth will be set up at the fair all week long so that people can see what is taking place out there," said Wilke, noting fairgoers can see images of the master plan, renderings of the buildings and photos of the site. "Anyone who is interested in the new fairgrounds should stop by and learn more about it."

Brochures and pamphlets will be available for those wishing to donate to the project.

A small presentation in the show barn on livestock sale night will also provide information and visuals of the plans and progress of the new fairgrounds.

"Basically, we just want to make sure that the fairgoers know what we are doing at the new location and how they can help here in the short term with our capital campaign, which we really want to get going after the fair," said Taylor.

And while the fair board excitedly looks forward to the new fairgrounds, the main focus is on the current fair.

"We are not taking away from the current fair because of the efforts that we are putting in to the new grounds," said Taylor. "For this year, next year and possibly the next, we will be hosting a fair at the current location and we're still going to put on a great fair while we continue to move forward with the new project."

Reporter Kelley Mohr can be reached at 330-674-5676 or kmohr@the-daily-record.com.